The six solar terms of spring

Traditional spring

Spring's six terms trace a movement from thawing ground to rain-assisted growth. The sequence begins with Lichun, Beginning of Spring, and continues through Guyu, Grain Rain. It ends when Lixia opens the summer sequence. In this seasonal arrangement, the March equinox divides spring rather than opening it.

Lichun and Chinese New Year use different boundaries. Lichun follows the Sun; New Year begins lunar month 1. Because lunar years and solar years differ in length, two occurrences of Lichun can fall within one lunar year. This is the meaning of shuangchun, “double spring”: one Lichun falls near the beginning of the lunar year and the next near its end.

The six spring terms

Each row gives the beginning of a term in 2026. The term continues until the next one begins.

Beginning of Spring (Lichun)

The li in Lichun marks a beginning. Its traditional imagery describes the first signs of renewal: east winds thaw the ice, dormant creatures begin to stir and fish approach the underside of the ice. This stirring precedes the fuller awakening associated with Jingzhe. These images belong to the seventy-two pentads, a sequence of three traditional seasonal markers for each solar term.

Rain Water (Yushui)

Yushui connects returning warmth with the change from snow and ice to rain. Its associated markers include northward-moving geese and sprouting grasses and trees. The emphasis is on water becoming available to living things as the season develops, before Guyu turns more specifically to the rain needed by grain crops.

Awakening of Insects (Jingzhe)

Jingzhe evokes spring thunder rousing creatures from winter dormancy. Peach blossom and the calls of orioles accompany this traditional image of awakening. Where Lichun describes life beginning to stir, Jingzhe presents a more active spring of movement, flowers and sound.

Spring Equinox (Chunfen)

Chunfen is the March equinox, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator northward. The celestial equator is the projection of Earth's equator onto the sky. Chunfen's longitude of 0° provides the reference point for the modern solar-term sequence.

The name means the division of spring. It marks the middle of the traditional spring sequence, although the same event begins Northern Hemisphere spring in the equinox-based astronomical convention.

Qingming

Qingming means “clear and bright,” evoking the clarity and fresh growth of spring. Tree blossom and the appearance of rainbows are among its traditional seasonal images. The term also gives its name to a major occasion for remembering the dead.

Qingming observances include tending family graves, visiting columbaria where ashes are kept, and making offerings to ancestors. The details vary with family and regional practice. Visits may take place on the festival date or on nearby days, while the calendar date itself is fixed by the solar term.

Grain Rain (Guyu)

Guyu connects rainfall with the sowing and growth of grain crops. Its traditional markers include growing duckweed and hoopoes in mulberry trees, bringing water, fields and trees into the same late-spring picture. Guyu closes the spring sequence before the summer terms turn towards grain filling, harvest and heat.

Weather and daylight

The equinox does not normally give exactly twelve hours between published sunrise and sunset. Those times use the Sun's upper edge, and atmospheric refraction makes the Sun visible while it is geometrically below the horizon. Visible daylight is consequently longer than a simple centre-of-the-Sun calculation suggests. The date when day and night are closest to equal depends on latitude.

Thawing, flowering and the return of insects follow local conditions as well as the lengthening days. Latitude and elevation affect how quickly warmth returns, while rainfall shapes the growing season. The spring names bring these changes into a sequence rooted in northern Chinese seasonal experience, with different timings in warmer southern regions and colder uplands.